Diecast: Dinky-Matchbox-Hot Wheels

[Morgbug]

Cool.  Those didn't pop up at Robby?

[DSJ™]

Not that I am aware of Brent, nothing in his e-mails or on his site or HLJ. Looks like these came out late summer last year & from what I found out on the net is they were offered only briefly last month in Cirlce K stores in Japan? 

This is all I found on the KYOSHO Site

[stormie]

My girls have taken a particularly keen liking to Hotwheels, which I had never really paid any attention to. Whenever I've taken them to Target or some other place with Hotwheels, and they've been especially well-behaved (not an easy task; they're two and three), I get 'em each a Hotwheel. A well-spent $1.98.

What I couldn't believe is how cheap these are. It seems that SW figures should be a lot cheaper if these highly collectible cars are only $99 each. Of course, SW has the licensing costs and other things, but still, seems like SW figures...even the Galactic Heroes, should be way less.

And this all ties into me wanting to buy my girls (and me, I guess) more Star Wars related stuff instead of or in addition to Hotwheels.

Haven't ever seen a Treasure Hunt, or the cereal editions, but we do have this cool gray Mustang and a Green Dodge Challenger that I'm particularly fond of. 

[iFett]

What I couldn't believe is how cheap these are. It seems that SW figures should be a lot cheaper if these highly collectible cars are only $99 each. Of course, SW has the licensing costs and other things, but still, seems like SW figures...even the Galactic Heroes, should be way less.

No doubt.  I've been looking for HW TH stuff eversince DS posted what can be done with these things (no luck though).  Most of the SW Titaniums are smaller/weigh less than a HW car and yet I'm paying $4 + more - must all be in the packaging I suppose.   

[Madcow]

No doubt.  I've been looking for HW TH stuff eversince DS posted what can be done with these things (no luck though).  Most of the SW Titaniums are smaller/weigh less than a HW car and yet I'm paying $4 + more - must all be in the packaging I suppose.   

More like it's all in the licensing...

TH's are a pain to find. I got lucky this past year about found about 10 or so for the whole year. I recommend checking out of the way places. My best scores were at Supermarkets. Look by the checkout registers. That's where I found my last 2 '06 1970 Plymouth Barracudas...

As for HW, i've been an on/off collector for the last decade. Like anything else, at first I bought everything then whittled down to certain cars. Now I just mainly collect the Batmobiles, Oscar Mayer Weinermobiles and Morris Minis as well as whatever catches my eye...

[efranks]

I've never been into Hot Wheels.  Even as a kid I bought mostly Matchbox cars because that was what my local store sold.

However, back in December, I was in Target for a toy run and spun through the car aisle and saw a Hot Wheels car on the pegs but the bubble was entirely black with a question mark on it.  After looking at I found out that there is a set of Mystery cars for 2007.  I thought it was cool so I bought it along with one other, there were only the two.  Since then I've been cruising the HW aisle looking for more and found 6 the other day.

One of them is supposed to be a Batmobile from one of the recent cartoons.  They each have a barcode on them and supposedly Mattel will release info later in the year to tell you what car you have by the code but there doesn't appear to be any correlation...meaning all Batmobiles don't have the same code.

They're kind of fun and for the 6 of them it cost less than one Star Wars figure.

   E...

[Madcow]

One of them is supposed to be a Batmobile from one of the recent cartoons.  They each have a barcode on them and supposedly Mattel will release info later in the year to tell you what car you have by the code but there doesn't appear to be any correlation...meaning all Batmobiles don't have the same code.

Yeah the code is worthless. I've bought about 25 mystery cars, ended up with mulitples and all had different barcodes. If you want to spot the Batmobile easily, squeeze the top and bottom of the bubble and it should have some give to it (nothing hard) then lastly shake it. If you don't hear anything moving back and forth or rattling around, it's most likely a Batmobile. The car itself is pretty small and easily scratched so they wrap it in a plastic baggie inside the bubble which prevents it from moving around. I've gotten 6 of them using this method. You can also get the Animated Batmobile in an exclusive 2-pack at Target w/o having to go through the hassle of buying the Mystery cars but i've only come across those a few times...

[Morgbug]

I thought I'd come fully out of the closet and show my hot wheels that I currently have. 

I did collect these as a kid and was around for the very original release of the die cast hotwheels, including the first sixteen cars.  I sold off a bunch of them, in fact all but one of my vintage Camaros a couple of years ago.  Between those and various other vintage toys I had as a kid, I managed to compile a complete loose vintage collection of Star Wars figures plus bank about $2000, so a reasonable trade.

I have to confess though, I still like Hot Wheels, just not the junky stuff they put out for the most part on the blue cards.  I buy the occasional car, like Mustangs, Camaros or Batmobiles.  So I was pretty excited to see the Hot Wheels Classics line which is pretty much an homage to the old, original line or redlines released back in the 1960s.  I collect all of the Camaros or Firebirds from 1967-1969 and the Mustangs from 1964-1971 or so.  I also pick up the occasional other car from the line if I like it, but not too many as these come in at a price of $3.99 each or about 4x as much as the regular line.  They're all carded for the moment, but will be opened when I can display them on a shelf.

Camaros and Batmobiles (I can't wait for the classic TV show version to show up)


Mustangs


Miscellaneous cars and Treasure Hunts


If anyone's trying to find THs, they changed the sidebar identifier for 2007.  2007 on the left, previous years on the right:

[Madcow]

Nice collection Morg! I'm totally jealous of the Dairy Delivery TH, i've yet to find one of those. Just a heads up, the '66 Batmobile is out and from what i've heard 3-4 per case so it should hopefully be pretty easy to find. I myself have yet to find that as well...

[Morgbug]

I have two Dairy Delivery THs, so if you want one, you're welcome to it. 

I'm not really into the TH cars at all but I buy them if I find them.  I was really happy to find the Camaro and the Mustang THs from 2006 (or was it '05?) and I still want the white Mustang TH but I just haven't bought it off ebay yet.  From what I've seen pictures of, there isn't a 2007 TH that I have any need to own.

As for the Batmobile, thanks for the info.  I didn't expect it to be rare, but as with all things it'll be hard to find at the start.  I sold off my old Corgi Batmobiles so that's why I bought the HW versions, cheap replacements to fill that nostalgic void.  I'll get it at some point, hopefully on my own for cheap and no shipping.

[Morgbug]

What's up with Treasure Hunts this year?  Are they packing them two to a box?  I don't think so because when I found the Dairy Delivery THs they were one per box and at totally different stores. 

I've found 11 (now 13) TH cars in probably four years of looking.  But of those 13, I've found 2 in January, 2 in February and now 2 in March.  Six in three months versus seven in 3.5 years??  What gives, what changed in the release pattern?

I know at one time Canada used to get a decent amount of TH cars but the US collectors protested the distribution saying it was disproportional up here, so Mattel fixed that apparently.  I'm just a little surprised.

It was a good day though, both THs were the Nissan Skyline and I also found a Redline car today and lo and behold it was a 69 Firebird I believe, which is nothing more than a rebadged 69 Camaro, so that was pretty nice. 

[Marshallmario]

  Really nice pictures. I have collected HW on and off for years also. Mostly all the competition has turned me off. Too many people lined up at Target before it opens. I'm not an expert but I believe this year there are more TH. because there are 2 types now. The regular and a Super treasure hunt. I don't think the packaging is any different (haven't seen a TH this year) but the super has the real rider soft tires and different wheels. Maybe a close look at some of your doubles will show a difference.
   A note on the Batmobile line the new 1966 model is out which looks really awesome (at least in the pix) and there is a 5 pac from Batman Begins with that flat black stealth Hummer Batmobile that is way cool.
   A good site for news is HotWheelsCollectors.com. It's message boards are huge.

[Morgbug]

I wasn't aware of the super treasure hunts, so thanks for the information.  I'll have to take a peak at the wheels.

I'm actually registered at HotWheelsCollectors.com but have never posted there.  Even had a redline membership for a year, but I let it lapse because of my restricted focus on particular cars, it's cheaper for me to find them on ebay than lay out the cash for the membership.  Worse, the first vehicle they sent was left on the step by UPS and stolen.  Neither UPS nor hw club gave a crap   It's UPS's fault but the response from the redline club was pretty similar to that I received from Master Replicas one time: tough luck.  You don't have to tell me twice.

As for collecting up here (Canada), there are quite a few collectors and they are pretty rapid, but stores got tired of guys (hot wheels and McFarlane) charging down the aisles and leaving the respective sections a mess.  So they all tend to stock at random times now, eliminating the early morning sprints.  Some stores have collectors on staff too, so there's no point in even looking there.  The nearest Walmart to me never brings out a sealed box of Hot Wheels, they are always opened before they ever leave the stockroom.  Add that to the lower counts for THs in Canada and I think guys have stepped back a bit. 

[Morgbug]

I went looking for Star Wars and found Hot Wheels

What a weird morning.  Went looking for the Walmart wave of figures which did arrive, but were gone already by the time I got there.  I checked a pile of stores (6) and found some hotwheels though.

THs must be one heck of a lot more common because a couple more Nissan Skyline THs today.  Actually, I found 8 of them   Three at one store, two at another, two at another and one at the last.  Just plain silly to the point of me leaving them behind.  I do think one of them is the super chase though, because it has different wheels. I'll post pictures later or tomorrow, but that makes 10 Treasure Hunts I found this week, all of them the Skyline.

[Morgbug]

So combined with the two I found earlier in the week, I picked up 8 Nissan Skyline Treasure Hunts this week.  Weird, weird, weird. 



Two have substantially different wheels (front and rear) than the other six, so I wonder if those are the super chase version? 

I also picked up another redline vehicle and three of the Hot Wheels Classics cars from series 3.  I like the old Fords from the 30s/40s so grabbed the Vicky.  I dig the flames on the old cars too but I probably won't grab any more of that model.  I will grab more of the Heavy Chevy (67? Camaro) and the Nitty Gritty Kitty (68 or so Cougar).  So like last year's Hot Wheels Classics there are three cars I'm aiming to get all the color variations on, the third being the 1969 Camaro convertible.  This was the first time I'd seen the heavy chevy and NGK up here.  I know they're already on another color south of the border for the cars so as usual we're behind.  Still, I was worried we weren't going to have any retailers carrying these (I can still find some series 1 cars on the hooks) so it's nice to see them.